Importing Purchase Orders via CSV File (Ingest Data)

Whether you're transitioning from another system or managing bulk inventory updates, importing purchase orders using CSV files can streamline the process and ensure your inventory is accurately reflected in MyTime. This guide walks you through the steps to import purchase orders using the Ingest Data tool.

Things to know:

• The ability to import purchase orders is governed by the 'Accessing Ingest Data' access control setting.
• Purchase orders can be imported in any status
  • draft
  • ordered
  • checking_in
  • completed
  • canceled 
• A sample ZIP file is attached at the bottom of this article for reference.
• You’ll need to create four CSV files using Excel before importing.

Contents:

• Create the Required CSV Files
• Create and Zip Your Files

Create the Required CSV Files

1. You’ll need to prepare four CSV files with the following structure:
   • purchase_order_items: Contains the individual product data for the purchase order.   

     Column	Description
     purchase_order_item_id	External unique ID for the product in the purchase order
     purchase_order_id	External ID of the purchase order
     mytime_vendor_sku_id	This can be found by exporting the vendors and locating the ID in the inventory_vendor_skus sheet in column B
     item_count	The quantity of the product in the order
     cost	The cost of the product
     stock_type	Where the item is stocked (e.g., retail or back_bar)
     deleted	This gives you the option to delete products by changing the '0's to '1's

   • purchase_orders: Contains the overall purchase order information. 

     Column	Description
     purchase_order_id	External ID of the purchase order
     location_id	The 'Store ID' located on the 'Edit Location' modal under Business Setup> Business Profile> Edit Locations > Store ID.  You can add your own if this field is blank.
     mytime_vendor_id	The internal MyTime vendor ID. This can be found by exporting the vendors and locating the ID in the inventory_vendor_skus sheet in column D
     status	The status of the purchase order: draft ordered checking_in completed canceled
     shipping_cost	The shipping cost of the purchase order
     po_number	Purchase order number shown in MyTime.  Note: If the po_number field is left blank, MyTime will not auto-generate a PO number during import. However, you can manually add or edit the PO number directly on the purchase order after the import is complete.
     ordered_at	The date the purchase was created (YYYY-MM-DD)
     deleted	This gives you the option to delete products by changing the '0's to '1's

   • purchase_orders_manifest: Lists the names of the CSV files you’ve created. 
     • Example contents:
       • purchase_order_items.csv
       • purchase_orders.csv
   • batch_manifest_purchase_order: Lists the name of the folder containing all the CSV files.
     • Example contents:
       • purchase_order/
2. Download the Excel sheets as a CSV file
   

Create and Zip Your Files

1. Create a folder on your computer called purchase_order.
   • Move the purchase_orders_manifest.csv, purchase_orders.csv and purchase_order_items.csv files into the 'purchase_order' folder
   • Select both the 'purchase_order' folder and the batch_manifest_purchase_order.csv file
   • Right-click and choose "Add to Archive" or "Compress" depending on your device. If promoted, choose the Zip format.
     
2. Name the zip file. Example: purchase_order_0528.zip 
3. Upload your ZIP file to MyTime. 
   • Log in to your MyTime account 
   • Click the arrow beside your name in the top right corner to see 'Ingest Data'
   • On the Processed Batches page, click 'Upload File'
   • Select your zip file, then click Open. 
   • Click 'Import File' to start the upload (Your file will not import unless this button is clicked) 
   • Once the file is uploaded, it will appear in the list with an end time and a status of Finished when complete. 

Congrats, you have successfully imported your purchase orders. You can navigate to POS > Inventory to view the changes.